


The Sin-You

by Shadow_of_Quill



Category: Death Note
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Gen, Unicorns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 10:30:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/608856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_of_Quill/pseuds/Shadow_of_Quill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Light told himself that he'd imagined seeing it, because of his interest in mythological creatures. He ignored that he'd only become interested in them after seeing it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sin-You

**Author's Note:**

> For cotton candy bingo, the wildcard. I really wanted to do a story about unicorns, and when I was looking for Japanese unicorn equivalents, I found the Sin-you: A creature with a horn in the centre of its forehead that can sense whether someone is guilty of a serious crime, and will punish them for it. Apparently, there are stories of them being in use at courts.
> 
> As soon as I found out about it, I knew I had to use it.

Light stared up at the animal. Myths were all made-up, which meant they were lies. So if an animal was mythical, that meant it wasn't real. 

The Sin-you _looked_ real. Its dark eyes blazed as it stared at him. Its ribs showed clearly through its brown coat. Its mane was a tangled mat over its neck. Its horn stood out clearly, bone-white and sharp, pointed right at his chest. 

"Hello," he breathed. 

The heat of its breath as it snorted at him and turned its head away so that he was no longer threatened by its horn felt real, too. He stood up, brushing at the dirt on his clothes, and stepped forwards. The Sin-you let him get close enough to touch its fur before it leapt away and vanished. 

Light pouted for a moment before he remembered that big boys with younger sisters to provide good examples for don't behave childishly. He heaved a deep sigh as he turned to leave the alley he'd been hiding in. Those boys who wanted to hit him for being smarter than they were must have left by now... 

***

Light jumped as he found himself facing a very familiar pair of blazing eyes. He'd convinced himself that the encounter when he was younger was a fantasy, conveniently ignoring that he'd only become interested in learning about Sin-you _after_ seeing one. 

The Sin-you stared at him again, then turned its head away in a very familiar gesture. "Hello," he said softly, a wondering smile tugging at his lips as he realised that this was _real_. 

The Sin-you didn't object when he stepped closer, nor when he reached out to touch its fur. He stroked it for a few moments before he gathered enough courage to start trying to detangle its mane. 

When it shook his fingers from its hair and stepped away, he tried to stop it. "It's better if your hair is neat. It makes you look more proper." 

It snorted at him again, looking disdainful. He frowned back at it. He knew what he was talking about. He knew a lot about people's expectations, and how to meet them. 

If he weren't so good at it, he'd have been chased a lot more - and he wouldn't be able to rely on the adults' protection so much, either. 

He tried to explain that to the Sin-you, but it seemed like he couldn't find the right words for the look on its face to change. Unimpressed, it walked away - and then it leapt, and he couldn't see where it had gone... 

***

He began to spot the pattern with his third meeting with the Sin-you. The creature appeared whenever he was being hunted or hemmed-in by people who could be considered sinners - the Sin-you's natural prey. 

"Are you - protecting me?" he asked hesitantly. The way it looked at him told him that the answer was yes - but that the question he'd asked hadn't been exactly right. 

" _Why_ are you protecting me?" 

The burning eyes were never less than intense, but when they looked approving, Light felt he could save the world. 

But the Sin-you didn't answer, and Light could tell that his question was only closer to the right one. 

And then a question occurred that frightened him, but he had to ask it just to see if it was the one the Sin-you was waiting for. 

"What do you think that I'll need protecting from?" 

The Sin-you rested the point of its horn over his heart. Light wasn't sure how he stayed put, instead of running in horror. Was the Sin-you telling him that it was waiting for him to become a sinner? 

What else _could_ it mean? 

***

Light wasn't sure what he thought he was doing. The notebook he'd found had to be a joke, didn't it? 'Death Note' - what a ridiculous idea! As if writing someone's name could kill them... 

But... Wasn't it just as ridiculous to claim that Sin-you were real? 

And why was he so interested in testing it, if he was sure it was fake? 

So here he was, completely lost to rationality, running off to find a mythological beast and ask it if the notebook he'd picked up from the ground outside his school was dangerous. And for some reason, he was convinced that he had to do this as soon as possible - before he gave in to the 'curiousity' he was feeling, and tried to use it... 

The deserted road he'd found was suddenly - not deserted. The Sin-you looked almost questioning, and he could guess why - this had to be the first time he'd been running when he wasn't being chased. 

He held out the Note, speechless. 

The Sin-you's eyes blazed with fury, and it lowered its horn and charged. He braced himself, knowing that it wasn't going to stop before it gored him. Sin-you kill murderers. He had thought about using the Note. He wasn't innocent any more. 

The impact knocked all the air from his lungs as he fell to the floor. He stared up at the sky for a moment, gasping, waiting for the pain to register. 

"How long are you going to lie there?" someone asked with a touch of impatience. He looked over. 

The man crouched over him was pale, and thin, and had hair as dark as any native. 

And burning dark eyes that Light had only seen in one other face before. 

"Sin-you?" he asked. 

The man looked unimpressed (it was the exact same expression). "Why are you asking about a mythological creature?" 

He sat up, bewildered to find that he was uninjured. Hadn't he...? 

The man turned to leave. He grabbed at his wrist, feeling a bizarre sense of triumph when he stopped the man. He'd never stopped the Sin-you from leaving... 

"What?" the man asked, sounding confused, annoyed, and slightly frightened. 

Light swore afterwards that he meant to ask something sensible, like 'Who are you?' or 'Why are you here, anyway?' but what came out was, "Can I comb your hair now that you're human?" 

***

L never admitted that he was the Sin-you. Light never brought it up after their first meeting. 

But, very occasionally, L would point to one of their suspects and say, "This one," regardless of what the evidence seemed to point to. And Light was the only one who was never surprised that he was right.


End file.
